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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Farmers recount Nyeri show experience

By
Bett Kipsang’

Thirst
for information and new knowledge has seen thirteen farmers from Sipili sponsor
themselves to attend the Nyeri National Agricultural Society of Kenya (A.S.K)
show. The trip was coordinated by Ng’arua Maarifa Centre and Sipili Stakeholders’
Forum. Seven women and five men contributed fare and hired a Nissan Matatu for
the trip.

Their
sole objective was to learn from the rich display of information at Kabiruini
show grounds. This year’s theme for ASK shows was "Enhancing technology in
agriculture and industry for food security and national growth."

On our way back, farmers engaged in
hearty conversations about the show, and I was convinced that the trip would have
a lasting positive impact on the participants.

I later interviewed three farmers (two
men and one woman) each of them had a moving story about the educational trip.
‘‘My objective was to learn new technologies in agriculture and livestock
farming, that is why horticulture and livestock sectors impressed me most’’ said
David Mwangi 68.

One immediate impact of the trip for Mwangi,
a passion fruits farmer, is to replace his livestock with improved breeds for
higher production and profits. ‘‘The skills and knowledge gained will enable me
earn higher incomes and reduce cost of buying fertilizer, that will improve my
life’’ David observed. He also learned how to make compost manure, better ways
of growing tomatoes, tissue culture bananas and other horticultural crops.

‘‘I’m now longing for another
opportunity to attend such a learning forum to gain knowledge on how to improve
my farming practice’’ he said.

Tabitha Wanjiru 45 has only heard over
the radio about high producing breeds of cattle. She has never seen one with
her own eye. The Nyeri Agricultural show came in handy for Wanjiru. ‘‘I was
amazed to see a cow producing up to 50 Kilograms of milk per day!’’ she
observed. It was also amazing for Tabitha to see a huge cow dropping milk as it
stood to feed. ‘‘I took a photo with the cow so that I can explaine to my husband
and children because I lack words to describe,’’ she said.

Tabitha
improved her knowledge on vegetable gardening, seed selection, farm management
and use of compost manure to get high production and conserve the soil. She is
optimistic that her Kitchen garden will improve tremendously.

As a house wife, she relies on fuel wood
for domestic energy needs, which is why she was much impressed by the biogas
cooker. ‘‘I learned that we can cook at home using cow dung gas instead of
using firewood’’ Tabitha said. She keeps dairy goats and cattle at home, though
not the best breeds, she is planning to install the biogas to provide household
energy.

She learned about fish and poultry
farming whereby the poultry house is constructed above the fish pond such that chicken
droppings fall on the fish pond and provide fish feeds.

Wanjiru is quite categorical on how she
expect her life to change after going to the show, ‘‘I am already planning to
buy high yieldingcattle, like the one I
saw which can earn me up to Ksh.200,000 a year’’ She said.

‘‘My money and time spent on trip were not wasted’’
observed Tabitha Wanjiru. ‘‘I wish I had gone to the show with my husband or
children so that they can also learn the same information’’ she said, promising
to sponsor other family members to attend such forums in future. This she
believes will change the farming practices in the family.The technology of pumping water using a motor
bike engine was another interesting feature for Wanjiru.

Peter Muturi 42, a group leader in
Sipili is one of the show enthusiasts, ‘‘I deeped into my pocket to raise money
to attend the ASK show in order to learn about crops, livestock farming, pest
and disease control methods’’ said Muturi. The dairy sector was captivating,
‘‘I learned how it is easy to keep a dairy animal under zero grazing’’ he said.
He gained knowledge that a cow producing 52 Kg of milk per day can earn the
farmer two hundred thousand shillings in a year. He plans to acquire farm
machinery to help in preparing animal feeds.

Peter borrowed the idea of planting
tomatoes and learnt about a new variety known as Nuru F1, which can earn up to Ksh.165
000 per acre. Another crop is red and baby onions which can produce up to Ksh.65,000
per acre.

‘‘I went to the Kenyatta University
stand and learned how to extract medicines from plants’’ Said peter Muturi who
has resolved to buy and keep grade cattle and plant onions in his farm. He has
already sown onions in the seedbed.

Muturi is now an information agent, ‘‘I
use every meeting I attend to tell people the importance of going to the show.
My advice to farmers is to be proactive in searching for information, they
should start small and grow big, ’’ said Muturi.

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